** Description changed:
- David and the security team (inspired by an observation from Rick)
- discussed that when recording, pulseaudio should somehow unobtrusively
- show the user that it is recording. The easiest thing to do would be for
- pulseaudio to alert indicator-sound which would then turn its icon red
- (similar to indicator-message turning blue with new messages). Marking
- 'high' because apps with access to pulseaudio can currently eavedrop on
- users. If the app is allowed to do networking (the default for apps),
- then it can ship that information off to a server somewhere.
+ Currently the 'audio' policy group allows access to pulseaudio which
+ allows apps to use the microphone and eavesdrop on the user. Pulseaudio
+ needs to be modified to use trust-store, like location-service does.
+ Integrating with trust-store means that when an app tries use the
+ microphone via pulseaudio, pulseaudio will contact trust-store, the
+ trust-store will prompt the user ("Foo wants to use the microphone. Is
+ this ok? Yes|No"), optionally cache the result and return the result to
+ pulseaudio. In this manner the user is given a contextual prompt at the
+ time of access by the app. Using caching this decision can be remembered
+ the next time. If caching is used, there should be a method to change
+ the decision in settings.
+
+ Targeting to T-Series for now, since the trust-store is not in a
+ reusable form yet.
+
+ Original description:
+ David and the security team (inspired by an observation from Rick) discussed
that when recording, pulseaudio should somehow unobtrusively show the user that
it is recording. The easiest thing to do would be for pulseaudio to alert
indicator-sound which would then turn its icon red (similar to
indicator-message turning blue with new messages). Marking 'high' because apps
with access to pulseaudio can currently eavedrop on users. If the app is
allowed to do networking (the default for apps), then it can ship that
information off to a server somewhere.
Note 1, the alert to indicator-sound must happen via the out of process
pulseaudio server and not the confined app itself to be effective.
Note 2, we should consider how to enforce this for foreground apps only.
Application lifecycle should probably handle this for 13.10 (apps are
suspended if not in foreground or if the screensaver is on), but we
don't want an app on the converged device to record in the background
when the user isn't paying attention. Example eavesdropping attack:
start recording only when the screensaver is on (perhaps inhibiting the
screensaver during recording would be enough).
** No longer affects: indicator-sound (Ubuntu)
** No longer affects: indicator-sound (Ubuntu Saucy)
** Also affects: pulseaudio (Ubuntu T-series)
Importance: Undecided
Status: New
** Changed in: pulseaudio (Ubuntu Saucy)
Status: Invalid => Won't Fix
** Changed in: pulseaudio (Ubuntu T-series)
Importance: Undecided => High
** Summary changed:
- pulseaudio should indicate to the user it is accessing the microphone
+ pulseaudio should integrate with trust-store
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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1224756
Title:
pulseaudio should integrate with trust-store
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